"These days hardly a news cycle goes by without one CEO or another talking about talent. How important talent is to success. How worrisome it is that talent is becoming scarce. And how determined CEOs are to win the race for talent.

At the same time rarely a day seems to pass without a newly clipped Dilbert comic strip getting pasted to someone’s cubicle wall. Dilbert is popular not just for the laughs, but because it so effectively captures the stultifying nature of today’s corporate workplaces.

The contrast is striking. On the one hand we have public declarations of love for talent from the top of the organization. On the other hand skeptical, even cynical messages of unhappiness float up from em­ployees. Ironic, yes—and indicative of a deep problem in how many companies approach and regard their talented workers."